The Best Man Holiday

The circle of friends from writer-director Malcolm D. Lee's 1999 The Best Man get together for Christmas, where their suitcases aren't the only baggage that gets unpacked and aired out. The result is much like the first movie: a glossy beautiful-people soap opera (with the shadow of death adding extra suds) leavened with occasionally awkward comedy, too long by at least half an hour and instantly forgettable (although Lee seems to believe we've had the DVD of the original flick sitting on our TVs and have watched it every week since 1999). Like the first movie, there's a plus side: Lee stocks his cast with some of the best (and in some cases most underrated) African American actors around: Morris Chestnut, Terrence Howard, Taye Diggs, Nia Long, Regina Hall, Sanaa Lathan. Another plus: their clear pleasure in working together.